Wesleyan University
Private liberal arts college in Middletown, Connecticut
About This School
How does this school stack up?
Wesleyan University was founded in 1831 under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1872, Wesleyan led the way in admitting female students, an effort sometimes referred to as the “Wesleyan Experiment.” However, resistance to the experiment in certain quarters made itself increasingly felt, until the policy was reversed in 1912. Women were not admitted again until 1970.
In 1937, the university became officially independent from the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Today, Wesleyan is a fully secular, private research university. It comprises 46 undergraduate academic departments which offer more than 900 courses each semester. In addition, the university has 11 graduate-level departmental programs. Among its innovative programs we may mention the College of East Asian Studies, the College of the Environment, the College of Film and the Moving Image, and the College of Integrative Studies.
Wesleyan also has a highly respected world music program, covering West African, Caribbean, African-American, South Asian (classical Indian), Southeast Asian (classical Indonesian), and East Asian (classical Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) traditions, in addition to the traditional European classical music traditions, including contemporary and experimental music.
Wesleyan University is associated with four Nobel Prize laureates, namely,
- Novelist, V.S. Naipaul for literature
- Chemist, Satoshi Omura for physiology or medicine
- Economist, Gary Yohe for peace
- 28th US President, Woodrow Wilson for peace
In addition, in the early 1960s, towards the end of his life, the great Anglo-American poet, T.S. Eliot, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948, worked as an editor for Wesleyan University Press.
Other prominent Wesleyan-associated individuals include the following:
- Mathematicians, Edward Burr Van Vleck, Sanford L. Segal & Jennifer Tour Chayes
- Computer scientist, Leslie Greengard
- Philosophers, Robert Stalnaker & Daniel Dennett
- Poets, Richard Wilbur, Donald Hall & Mark Strand
- Non-fiction authors, Mary Roach, Sebastian Junger & Ariel Levy
- Literary scholar, Seth Lerer
- Actors, Alice Nunn, Bradley Whitford, Laura Fraser, Sarah Schaub & William Garson
- Comedian, Vladimir Caamaño
- Film director and producer, Michael Bay
- Film director, producer, and screenwriter, Joss Whedon
- Film and TV screenwriter, Mike White
- TV screenwriter and producer, Matthew Weiner
- Popular musicians, Amanda Palmer, Santigold (Santi White), Andrew VanWyngarden & Ben Goldwasser
- Jazz saxophonist and composer, Steve Lehman
- Operatic composer, lyricist, and playwright, Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Musicologist and classical composer, Neely Bruce
- Gamelan virtuoso, Sumarsam
- Experimental classical composer, John Cage
- Physicist, Edward Bennett Rosa
- Statistical physicist, H. Eugene Stanley
- Geologists, William North Rice, Alexander Winchell & Gordon P. Eaton
- Chemist, Wilbur Olin Atwater
- Biochemist, Charles Brenner
- Botanist, Albert Francis Blakeslee
- Zoologist, Aaron Louis Treadwell
- Neuroscientist, Michael Greenberg
- Psychologists, Elliot Aronson, David McClelland & Beverly Daniel Tatum
- Psychotherapists, Allan Hobson & Amy Bloom
- Sociologist, Juliet B. Schor
- Historians, Nicholas Dirks & Kate Cooper
- Historians of science, Charles C. Gillispie & Gerald Holton
- American studies scholar, John Stauffer
- African American studies scholar, Saidiya Hartman
- Economists, Steven M. Sheffrin, Kenneth D. West & Gary Loveman
- Economist and political scientist, Charles Tiebout
- Political scientist, Adam Berinski
- Legal scholars, Naomi Mezey & Gabriel J. Chin
- Radio personality, Angela Yee
- TV journalist and political commentator, John Yang
- Online newspaper publisher, Robert Allbritton
- Former Colorado Governor, John Hickenlooper
- Current US Senator, Michael Bennett
Admissions
What does this school look for?
Annual Applications
12,706
Acceptance
17%
Graduation Rate
91%
Costs
How much does it cost to attend?
Tuition (in-state)
$54,314
Fees (in-state)
$330
| Income | Average Net Cost |
|---|---|
| 0-30K | $5,287 |
| 30K-48K | $6,719 |
| 48K-75K | $12,190 |
| 75K-110K | $18,901 |
| 110K+ | $43,600 |
After Graduation
Averages for 10 years after enrolling
Avg Earnings
$63,400
Employed
92%
Campus Life
What's it like to attend this school?
The People
Full time on-campus stats
Student Body
3K
Under-Grads
3K
Graduates
0K
The Campus
Where will you be attending?
Location
45 Wyllys Avenue,
Middletown CT
06459
City Crime Rates
Property Crime
20k per 100k
Violent Crime
2k per 100k
What is Wesleyan University known for?
Our answer to this is to show you the disciplines in which a school's faculty and alumni have had the highest historical influence. A school may be influential in a discipline even if they do not offer degrees in that area. We've organized two lists to show where they are influential and offer corresponding degrees, and where they are influential through scholarship although they don't offer degrees in the disciplines.
Top areas of influence with degrees offered
Other areas of influence
Influential People
Who are Wesleyan University's Most influential alumni?
Wesleyan University's most influential alumni faculty include professors and professionals in the fields of Philosophy, Literature, and Psychology. Wesleyan University’s most academically influential people include Daniel Dennett, Austin Warren, and Edward Thorndike.
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American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the 1971 book Be Here Now
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